What is “being a therian or therianthrope” ?

Therianthropes may describe their nature manifesting in terms of their cognitive processes, their outlook on life, their inner reactions and instincts, their senses, or through their physical body, though claims of actual physical variations from the norm tend to be regarded with skepticism both within and outside the subculture. Detailed descriptions (as with all inner experiences) vary widely, with common descriptions being of a spiritual bond, the soul of an animal within, a belief that they have an atypical or atavistic neurology, or an emotional shading of the personality. The human and non-human aspects of the self may then cooperate or conflict, leading to happiness or unhappy dysfunction, and may take much self-discovery to begin to understand or accept.

Because this is a personal self-perception, identification or discovery over time, the ways in which a person describes his or her self-identification as a therianthrope vary considerably. Some therians pretend to carry physical traits of their animal in their human form. This is the case of the large black eyebrows or long nose of the lycanthropes. In the most sever forms, society would typically refers to them as freaks because of their unusual appearances.

Many who report such a scenario do such as personal experience, and do not claim to understand its cause or be sure of their interpretation. Different therians may believe that the reason for this feeling is psychological, mystical, spiritual, neurobiological, or metaphysical in nature, or the result of some combination of these or other factors.The terms therian, therianthrope, and were are more or less interchangeable in the community, but there is a shift towards encouraging people to use the term "therian" instead of "were", to avoid confusion with the idea of fictional, mythological, or "hollywood" werewolves.